How to change indentation in Visual Studio Code?

In the toolbar in the bottom right corner you will see a item that looks like the following: After clicking on it you will get the option to indent using either spaces or tabs. After selecting your indent type you will then have the option to change how big an indent is. In the case of the example above, indentation is set to 4 space characters per indent. If tab is selected as your indentation character then you will see Tab Size instead of Spaces

If you want to have this apply to all files and not on an idividual file basis, override the Editor: Tab Size and Editor: Insert Spaces settings in either User Settings or Workspace Settings depending on your needs

Edit 1

To get to your user or workspace settings go to Preferences -> Settings. Verify that you are on the User or Workspace tab depending on your needs and use the search bar to locate the settings. You may also want to disable Editor: Detect Indentation as this setting will override what you set for Editor: Insert Spaces and Editor: Tab Size when it is enabled

You can change this in global User level or Workspace level.

Open the settings: Using the shortcut Ctrl , or clicking File > Preferences > Settings as shown below.

Then, do the following 2 changes: (type tabSize in the search bar)

1. Uncheck the checkbox of Detect Indentation
2. Change the tab size to be 2/4 (Although I strongly think 2 is correct for JS :))

To change the indentation based on programming language:

1. Open the Command Palette (CtrlShiftP | macOS: ⇧⌘P)

2. Type and select: Preferences: Configure Language Specific Settings... (command id: workbench.action.configureLanguageBasedSettings)

3. Select a programming language (for example TypeScript)

4. Add this code:

   "[typescript]": {
       "editor.tabSize": 2
   }
   

See also: VS Code Docs